Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
I was stranded in the jungle
Tryin' to take in all the heat they was giving
The night is dark but the sidewalks bright
And lined with the light of the living
So begins the second verse of Bruce Springsteen's 70's hit "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out". A couple of weeks back, I think many of us felt as if we were stranded in a jungle and trying to take any heat that we were able to get in order to stay warm. I write this post, not to complain about the loss of power or the bursting of pipes, but instead to honor the men and women of Westlake VFD for their efforts during the week of February 15th.
You will recall that the snow and sleet fell early morning Monday. When the Sun, rose the daylight gave us glimpse of a scene that we rarely see in south Texas--a glistening white ground and streets. Things were slow early on Monday, but then people started to move about and as they did, they found out that ice is slippery and Mr. Gravity can be really mean at times. Hence, calls started to come in for fall victims. With the power remaining off, it wasn't long that back up batteries in fire alarms systems wore out and false fire alarms were the next issue to give cause for dozens of responses. As the week wore on, the temperatures climbed back above freezing and frozen household water pipes began to thaw out. Unfortunately, they were full of cracks and splits. Folks who had not turned off their water soon had a waterfall from their ceiling. Having no one to turn to, they called the reliable ones, the Westlake Fire Department. The week ended with a large gas main breaking under ground on one of our roads. The smell of gas went everywhere. People were calling in to report the smell of gas outside, even some in neighborhoods that are not serviced by natural gas. Westlake was again running to respond to those numerous calls.
All in all, Westlake ran 364 calls in the week of February 15th. Compare that to an average month of 368 responses. The great news is I am not aware of anyone losing their life due to Westlake not being able to respond. Even with the worst of weather conditions, they were able to stay staffed and make the responses. Oh, and let's not forget that many of the members had the same issues at their homes as we did. The neighborhoods (and sidewalks) of ESD 47, while without electricity for many hours, were brightened by the unending efforts of Westlake. Thank you to all Westlake members!!
Next month, I will run the post that I had originally planned to write today.
Until then, stay safe.
Brian Havran